1st Review – 2/16/2024
Nestled in the corner of your everyday suburban commercial plaza is Pesto’s, an Italian restaurant and wine bar that I’ve never heard of until my wife Emily and I decided to check it out for a post-Valentine’s Day date night. We went on a Friday evening at 5:00 PM – happy hour – expecting there to be plenty of seats and not too much fuss. But, to my surprise, the parking lot was almost full and we ended up securing the last available table for two, right outside the front door with the sun beaming down on us. I remember thinking the high restaurant traffic at this hour must be a good sign.
Once you step inside, you’ll know right away this isn’t fine dining. It’s got the interior design sensibility of so many mom-and-pop family-owned restaurants I’ve come across over time: all over the place, with no consistent style, as if the owners picked up knick knacks along the way and decided to fill the spaces throughout the years. If they wanted to modernize the ambiance, they’d eliminate the clutter so that their impressive wine selection would be prominent as you step inside. But no one’s really bothered about this.
As I mentioned, this was happy hour. I bought a Deschutes IPA on draft. She got a glass of cabernet sauvignon. We shared a starter: the crispy calamari. It came lightly seasoned with chopped red peppers and a mustardy aioli sauce on the side. The calamari had a good temperature to it, and though the breading was the perfect thickness, it did lack the proper crunch to a small degree. Full disclosure: I am not the biggest calamari fan, but this one was decent enough but something I wouldn’t reorder on my next visit.
Now to the mains: Emily ordered the clam linguine and I got the chicken parmesan. But before I go on, let me say this about Italian restaurants – I often find myself overly critical of them because I can’t escape the thought of wondering why I’m spending money on dishes I can prepare of equal caliber at home. It’s been few and far between that I’ve gone to an Italian joint and said Damn, now that’s impressive. So please keep this in mind as I finish this review.
Emily’s linguine was cooked well, the pasta having a nice al dente texture, the clams not having a gross chewy texture, and the soup wasn’t overpowered by butter but had a nice hearty taste to it. My chicken parmesan was a healthy portion. The breaded chicken was topped with tomato sauce and melted cheese, complemented by more of the same tomato sauce over angel hair pasta. Everything was cooked fine, both the chicken and pasta were given to me at the right temperature and tomato flavor was ever present without feeling like it came out of a can. For someone who generally hates on Italian entrees at restaurants, there was really nothing to hate about these two.
We capped our meal off with a slice of their house made tiramisu. It came on a plate drizzled with a caramel sauce in a cake like shape with three sugary sweet mini breadsticks serving as the crust. This was a fine dessert: not overly sweet, with the pie-like texture of the tiramisu going well with those mini breadsticks, and the caramel providing another layer of flavor. If there was anything we ordered throughout this meal that I’d be most tempted to reorder again, it would be this dessert – and I’m not even a dessert guy.
This three-course meal with drinks plus tip cost around $115. We probably did the smart thing and waited after Valentine’s – God knows how much this would’ve cost on February the 14th. If someone were to ask me if I’d recommend this restaurant to others, I would say yes. If they asked if I would go back again, my answer would still be a yes – I’d probably order a pizza the next time, as Pesto’s tout themselves as a Pizza Restaurant according to their main sign. But I’d make sure to leave room for dessert again.
Rating: 7.8/10